ELECTION 2007 Political Forum: State House District 48

A banker, an insurance salesman, a store distribution associate and a lawyer are vying for the state House District 48 seat. All four candidates participated in a political forum sponsored by the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce, The Iberia Jaycees, Leadership Iberia and The Daily Iberian.

Here is a synopsis of the men who are seeking to be the next state representative for the district that encompasses the city of New Iberia and much of northern Iberia Parish and the issues they believe are important for the district.

TAYLOR BARRAS, D-New Iberia

This is the first go at politics for the market president for IberiaBank. Barras, 50, who has been in the banking business for 27 years, is married and has one child.

The most pressing problem in Louisiana is education, Barras said. Although much has been done over the past 12 years to improve teacher pay, the state needs to do more for "early intervention," teaching children when they are younger. Barras also favors improving community college and getting vocational-technical education to high school students.

Barras also cited returning the public trust in elected officials. "We need to eliminate the corruption that we've grown accustomed to," he said. The corruption, or perception of corruption, that helped Louisiana to lose out on a multimillion dollar steel mill when its German parent company opted to go to Alabama. A way to improve the state's image and reduce corruption, Barras said, is to restrict legislators from doing any business with the state and place more restrictions on lobbyists.

Iberia has a good start with developing its economy with the port and airport, but transportation in and around the district, as well as public education, must be improved to go further, he said.

Barras favors term limits. "Shame on you if in 12 years in the Legislature you can't be an effective leader," he said.

He also favors Blueprint Louisiana, a five-point plan of reform and improvement for the state. Barras said he was part of a group that helped contribute to the plan that calls for improved ethics laws, expand a pre-kindergarten program to teach children when they are younger, coordinate industry and the state's community and technical college system, improve state-run health care by developing programs to allow state and private facilities to treat uninsured people and improve the state's transportation system.

The banker is not the privileged, affluent person Barras' detractors allege he is, he said. As a youth, Barras worked at Winn-Dixie, Taylor's Drug Store and watched his father operate a small grocery store in New Iberia. "You'd hardly call that the silk handkerchief crowd," he said. He also touted his work with the United Way and other volunteer efforts that worked with people from all walks of life. This, he said, allows him to understand the "true issues" of the district.

DAVID BROUSSARD, D-New Iberia

The New Iberia City Council member won his first race three years ago and is vying for state office before the end of his first term. Broussard, 55, has owned David Broussard Insurance Agency for 25 years. He is married and has three children.

Sewerage is one of the top problems facing District 48, Broussard said. The parish, though, will need the help of the federal government as well as the state to solve it. The councilman also predicted that if nothing is done to entice insurance companies to return to cover homeowner's policies, property owners in Iberia will have to go to the state-operated Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. for coverage. "The state should get out of the (insurance) business," he said. And the state has to find money to repair its roads. Insurance companies need incentives to return to Louisiana, he said. But he also stated companies that insure automobiles here and provide homeowner policies in another state, they should be forced to provide homeowner insurance in Louisiana.

Education has to be improved in Louisiana, Broussard said, including curbing school violence by returning school resource officers.

The state needs to improve its health care system, he said. He supports the state's program to provide health insurance for children, citing statistics of 7.6 percent of children are not insured. He also supports paying for more preventative health care.

Broussard said he supports Blueprint Louisiana's five-point plan, especially its section on ethics. He said there needs to be more financial disclosures for public officials. "I don't want to hear someone from upstairs saying I'm doing one thing wrong," he said.

Instead of 12 years, as in state law, Broussard said that eight years in office should be enough.

Broussard's detractors say he has limited political experience and is a "one-issue guy," according to the moderator. The first-term councilman said he has taken on several issues on the council and has helped get cell phones on buses in 40 parishes.

RAYMOND LEWIS, D-New Iberia

Another member of the New Iberia City Council, Raymond "Shoe-Do" Lewis works at Wal-Mart Logistics, the retail giant's distribution center in Opelousas. Lewis, 44, also is serving his first term on the New Iberia City Council. He is married and has five children.

Lewis said he believes affordable homeowner's insurance, health insurance and education are the top issues the state faces. He said giving teachers more control over the classroom and merit pay raises would help education. He said he believes in universal health care, but to have such a system would require help from the federal government. He also said that the charity hospital system needs to be improved because people "wait for 13 hours" for treatment. Lewis said he couldn't get into specifics of a plan to increase the number of companies that offer homeowner's insurance, but something has to be done.

The city councilman said he supports the Blueprint Louisiana plan. He said it's "sad that we have to have ethics laws. It's either the truth or a lie; it's good or it's evil."

Lewis stated that immigration is a problem in Louisiana, claiming that he was the only local elected official to oppose illegal aliens living in the state. He said the state should strengthen its DWI laws so that first-time offenders won't get "a slap on the wrist." And the state needs to do more to track child predators by making stricter laws. "They can't just roam like the buffalo roam."

Lewis supports the state's term limits law for legislators, which he said he supported for City Council members as well.

Detractors, according to the moderator, allege that Lewis is too inexperienced to serve as a state representative. The councilman said that he has a record of serving on the City Council and has participated in most of the votes. He would do the same in Baton Rouge. He said he has "a record that reflects people, people, people."

SHANE ROMERO, D-New Iberia

New Iberia lawyer Shane Romero is making his first foray into the political arena, after watching and helping his father, Errol "Romo" Romero, in elections for years. Romero, 35, has been a lawyer for eight years. He is married and has one child.

Education and health care are the two top issues for Romero. More discipline back in public school classrooms is needed, he said. To parents who send their children to private schools, Romero said tax credits should be given. And the state should make more investments to its vocational-technical education programs.

Romero also offered that the state should give tax credits to homeowners for the annual premiums they pay as a way to help with the rising costs of property insurance. And families should get a "100-percent tax deduction for private health (insurance) premiums." Health care could be improved, he said, by medical facilities charging people the same whether or not they have health insurance.

Roads in Louisiana also are problematic in that there isn't enough funding, Romero said. He suggested dedicating the fees from licensing cars and trucks to go to roads.

Louisiana's reputation for having corrupt people in politics would be improved by voters electing "honest people," Romero said. Another way to improve that reputation would be to give the Ethics Board enforcement responsibilities, which it does not have now, he said. Also, special interest groups should be prohibited form doing business with public entities.

Term limits is the law, Romero said, and he supports it. He also supports the Blueprint Louisiana plan's concept and he said many of his goals fall in line with that plan.

His detractors say that Romero has not been involved enough in the community and question the oral contract he had with the Iberia Parish government that was revealed in a legislative audit as being improperly arranged. Romero countered that he has been over most of the district campaigning, visiting and talking with many people at the expense of losing time with his family. He also said he never had reason to doubt that the contract was OK and never had reason to doubt the quality of work for the parish. He said people are more interested in the "real issues."